2018 ICA Research Conference to look at Innovation in Enterprise and Community

11 Jun 2018

​The 2018 edition of the Regional Cooperative Research Conference will explore how cooperatives are responding to a changing world while promoting innovation.

Organised by the European branch of the Committee of Cooperative Research (CCR), the two-day conference is hosted by the Wageningen University in the Netherlands. The event is aimed at academics, researchers, and practitioners with an interest in the cooperative enterprise model.

The conference will be opened by the Director General of the International Co-operative Alliance, Bruno Roelants, who will welcome delegates to Wageningen.

Topics include innovations in internal governance; the rise of producer organisations; resilience and sustainability of the cooperative model; strengthening member commitment; financial and sustainability performance; cooperative education; statistics on cooperatives; cooperatives and changing labour relations; and cooperatives and big data.

On Wednesday, 4 July, young researchers from different disciplines will be able to join a dedicated workshop featuring presentations from Prof Murray Fulton and Prof Marie Bouchard.

The workshop will be preceded by a dinner and networking opportunity on Tuesday evening, 3 July. Young scholars are also encouraged to participate in the ICA Research Conference, which starts on the evening of 4 July.

On Thursday, 5 July, delegates will hear from keynote speakers Wiebe Draijer, Chair of Rabobank, who will look at the 200-year history of European financial co-operatives; and Dr Simel Esim, Head of the Cooperatives Unit at the International Labour Organization in Geneva, who will focus on cooperation in the changing world of work. The day will end with the conference dinner.

The event will continue on Friday, 6 July, with a keynote speech by Prof Murray Fulton, from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, who examine the latest trends in research on co-operatives. His speech will be followed by a panel discussion of cooperative performance and statistics.

More information about the conference and how to register is available here.

For any enquiries contact dr. WJJ (Jos) Bijman at jos.bijman@wur.nl.